The Hudson River Mystery

the noisy clowning around, Trixie drew Honey aside and whispered, ”I’m going trick-or-treating! Want to join me?”
    ”What? Are you crazy?”
    ”Yes,” answered Trixie, reaching for the flashlight and the picnic hamper. ”Are you with me or not?”
    Just then, Trixie heard Mart say something about ”too many sea serpents spoil the Trixie.”
    She flounced to the door of the clubhouse, announced, ”I’ve had enough insults; I’m going trick-or-treating,” and walked out into the darkness.
    Honey looked apologetically at the astounded Bob-Whites and said, ”I—I think we’ll be back in a few minutes.” Then she clasped the other flashlight and ran to catch up with her friend, who was already halfway to Glen Road.
    ”What’s going on?” Honey panted.
    ”I needed a quick excuse to get out of there,” giggled Trixie, ”and that was the best I could do. Don’t worry, we’ll be back, safe and sound, in just a little bit.”
    ”Back from where ?”
    Trixie didn’t dare look at Honey’s face. ”We’re going to Killifish Point,” she said briskly. ”Loyola said Thea was going back to the river tonight, and then she’s leaving town. You don’t want Thea to say I stole her book, do you?”
    ”What book?”
    ”That copy of Alice in Wonderland that I stuck in this hamper.”
    ”Oh, Trixie!” Honey looked over her shoulder, obviously unwilling to walk back to the clubhouse alone. Then she looked ahead of her at Glen Road, all murky in the moonlight. ”Wh-What did you say about w-werewolves before?” she quavered.
    Trixie linked arms with her. ”Come on, let’s get it over with,” she urged, starting to walk faster, before Honey could argue further.
    Privately, Trixie was thinking that this was not only her last chance to return Thea’s book, but it was also her last chance to see what, if anything, Thea was up to. If her hunch was right and some kind of trouble was brewing, Trixie certainly wanted to be on the spot to uncover it.
    Clutching their flashlights, the girls half walked, half ran down Glen Road to Killifish Road, and then down toward the river. No cars passed them. The whole area was sheathed in silence, save for the occasional rustle of a leaf or whistle of a bird. As the girls got closer to the Hudson, they could hear the sound of rushing water.
    ”Where do you think you’re going to find her?” Honey whispered.
    Startled, Trixie jumped. ”Gleeps, I guess I’m more nervous than I thought!” she said. ”Well, let’s start with her favorite spot.”
    They carefully climbed down the cliff until they reached the rock where they’d seen the writer twice before. This time she wasn’t there. Trixie watched the lights flickering on the opposite shore for a moment, wondering where to look next.
    Honey was leaning forward to look down the shore on their side. ”I—I think I see some lights,” she said tentatively.
    Trixie noticed them, too. ”Good for you, Honey —come on. Let’s go!”
    Sighing, Honey followed her friend back up the cliff and down the rocky shore toward the lights, which were now hidden from sight. Even with their flashlights and the light of the moon, the girls stumbled every so often over an unseen rock. Finally, they reached a peak from which the lights became visible. There was a long slope in front of them, then what looked like a plateau, and finally another slope. Some activity seemed to be taking place on the second slope, in an area where the cliff overhanging the water was very low. Besides several lights, Trixie could see a dark figure moving about.
    ”That must be her,” she whispered and forged ahead.
    Honey clutched at Trixie’s arm as they neared the edge of the plateau. They were close enough
    to see that the figure was definitely Thea. Suddenly Thea caught sight of them. She looked angry at first, Trixie thought, but then she smiled and beckoned to them.
    Reaching into the hamper, Trixie yelled, ”I’ve got your book!”
    ”What?”
    Trixie waved the red volume above her head. ”Your Alice In Wonderland!”
    Trixie thought she heard a dry laugh, and then some muttered words coming from Thea.
    ”Jeepers, I wonder if she’s got someone with her,” she said to Honey as the two girls hurried over a final rise in the rocks.
    Too late, Trixie saw that those rocks had concealed an entire panorama of activity. There was Thea’s silver sports car facing the river... there were two muscular divers in black rubber wet